It Came from the Pokemon Tower
by Starbreeze95
Summary: When a young Pokemon trainer named Christopher reaches Lavender Town, he is shocked by the terrifying tales of the Pokemon Tower - a hot spot for paranormal activity and murder. Christopher must solve the mysteries of the town's missing children and their murdered parents before Lavender Town is consumed by the darkness held within the Pokemon Tower.


It Came from the Pokémon Tower

After three days of desperately navigating through the labyrinthine Rock Tunnel, my trusty Squirtle and I were ecstatic to finally see the light of day. We were relieved to finally be free from the darkness, but when we stepped foot into Lavender Town, we realized our excitement was premature.

Despite the seemingly cute, friendly, storybook-like appearance of the small town, the townspeople were far from welcoming. They stared at us with cold, empty eyes, watching us from their home windows or from their front yards, pausing to stop from their gardening. Their eyes were grey. Their clothes were grey. The only things with color were the lavender flowers that sprouted from flowerpots and bushes, as if they were protecting the grey homes from unwanted visitors. At the time I brushed off their glares with a shrug of my shoulders. Not every town is welcoming of Pokémon trainers. Granted there was no Pokémon gym, my plans were to visit the nearest Pokémon Center and then leave for Celadon City as quickly as I arrived. I carried the little blue turtle in my arms, as both my Pokémon and I were exhausted from our hike.

As I scanned the dusty roads for a Pokémon Center, I noticed that only one building overlooked all the others – a tall, dark tower completely made of black bricks, its pointed roof reaching to the grey misty clouds in the grey sky. A wooden sign outside the tower read in sloppy black ink: _Pokémon Tower. _I felt an unusual chill wash over me and I pulled my vest closer to my body, hugging my Squirtle tightly. I could see a strange look in his big, brown eyes. A look of anxiety that I had never seen before.

"Are you lost?"

I jumped at the sound of a child's voice. I spun around to see a little girl, no older than six years old, standing behind me, her mousy brown pigtails drooping over her grey dress. She stared up at me with dead eyes.

I tried to be polite. I tried to smile at her. "No, but thanks for asking," I replied. "Are you?"

She didn't answer. She continued to stare. At first I thought she was staring into my eyes, but then I realized she was looking past me, by my right ear. "You should probably leave before they see you."

I raised my eyebrows. "Who are _they?_"

"Come follow me. I'll show you."

Even though she was just a little girl, I wasn't too confident in following a stranger. "Sorry, I'm a little busy. Where are your parents?"

Again, she didn't answer. She cocked her head. "Do you believe in ghosts?"

I couldn't help but chuckle at both the girl's awkwardness and at her absurd and random question. "No, I don't."

"Oh. Then I guess that white hand on your shoulder isn't real."

"What?" My head quickly whipped from left to right, checking for the said white hand, but nothing was there. When I focused my attention back to the little girl, I noticed she had suddenly disappeared.

I let out a sigh of relief when I finally found the Pokémon Center at the far left corner of town. I already had enough of the odd townspeople. I left my Pokémon with the nurse and made my way downstairs to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee. Finding a place at one of the wooden tables, I sat down with my coffee and picked up a newspaper. The Pokémon Tower was on the front page with the headlines: _The Mystery Continues! Couple found dead in Pokémon Tower. _

"That makes the third this week."

I set down the newspaper to see a young woman not much older than myself pulling up a seat across from me. Her silky black hair draped over her red and white robes like a black satin curtain, and she smiled at me with purple eyes. "You're not from around here, are you, young man?"

I blushed. I tried to think of one girl who could possibly be prettier than the one sitting before me and failed. "No," I said nervously, tugging at my baseball cap. "I'm a Pokémon Trainer. I travel around."

"I sure hope you're not lost then," she chuckled. "My name is Serena."

"Christopher." I shook her pale, icy hand.

"Not too many people come around here these days," said Serena. "Especially trainers."

"Because of the murders?" I pointed to the article.

Her eyes scanned over the writing. "They happen all too frequently. We keep finding young couples dead on the top floor of the Pokémon Tower. They were all parents of young children, too, and the children always disappear after their deaths. The deaths are horribly brutal – the fathers are stabbed to death, the mothers beheaded and missing the upper halves of their skulls. No one knows why the parents are dying or why the kids are disappearing, but – "

"What's with this Pokémon Tower?" I interrupted. I flushed again and said, "Sorry, didn't mean to be rude. I was outside it earlier and this little girl was outside telling me there was a hand on my shoulder."

"The Pokémon Tower is where I work," said Serena. "I'm a priestess. It's an indoor gravesite for dead Pokémon. I help bless the spirits of the Pokémon so they can continue to rest in peace. The top floor is dedicated to the Pokémon genocide that was led by Team Rocket."

"Genocide?" I repeated. I took a sip of my coffee and cringed. Not because of the drink, but because the word _genocide_ did not taste good to even say. "I've heard a lot about Team Rocket stealing Pokémon for power and wealth, but I can't imagine them ever killing one."

"Team Rocket is responsible for plenty of nefarious crimes that the general public does not know about. They were rounding up all the Pokémon they could find in order to create an army of monsters. The genocide was brought on to kill off all the 'weak' Pokémon they captured."

"That's horrible," I gasped.

Serena nodded solemnly. "Stories say that a Marowak was the last to die as she tried to fight off Team Rocket to save her baby Cubone. Rumor has it that her ghost haunts the Pokémon Tower."

"Is that true?"

"I don't like to fuel rumors," Serena said with a wink. "But in all seriousness, I hardly go to the top floor. I'm a newbie and work on the bottom floors, so I honestly have no idea. The other priestesses don't talk to me much since I'm not as experienced as they are."

"That's rude of them. Do you at least know what the deal is with the murders?"

Serena shrugged and rose from the table. "I couldn't say. I've got to get back to work, but it was nice meeting you, Christopher. Good luck on your travels."

"Nice meeting you, too," I said, shaking her hand one last time, "and thanks for being the one friendly person in this town."

My original plan was to leave Lavender Town at once after picking up my healed Pokémon, but after hearing about the Pokémon Tower murders, I knew I couldn't turn my back just yet. Something drew me to that tower. Was it the crimes, the little girl, the sinister townspeople? Or was it the hopes of seeing Serena again? Whatever it was, I couldn't quite pinpoint my desires, but they led me and Squirtle to the entrance of Pokémon Tower just a mere hour later. We stood side by side and I looked down at him for approval, to make sure he was just as curious as I was. When he nodded, I knew it was time to open the heavy wooden doors to the Pokémon Tower and unveil the mysteries it held behind its black brick walls.

The inside was drastically colder and the air was musty, like a cellar or dungeon. But it was neither. It was a cemetery, lined with tombstones for deceased Pokémon. I suppose the graves were below the wooden floorboards, as there wasn't any dirty and it was completely indoors. The thought of walking over Pokémon corpses was rather sickening. My Squirtle clutched my jeans nervously as he followed, his eyes glued to the graves. Aside from us and the sea of tombstones, the first floor was completely deserted.

We made our way up to the second floor, which was identical to the one below, but a young, black haired woman in red and white robes was knelt beside the graves. The priestess's back turned to us as her head was bowed, as if in prayer. At first I thought she was Serena, so I began to approach her.

"Serena?" I called. "Is that you?"

"So weak," the girl panted.

I could tell from the voice that this wasn't Serena. I knelt beside her. "Are you okay, miss?"

"I feel so anemic," she panted. "I...I need…" She grabbed my vest and glared at me, her eyes rolled back into her head. "_I need blood!_"

I screamed and sprang away, pulling the priestess off my clothes. She hissed and drooled, seizing for me. I was about to run in the opposite direction when I saw purple gas billowing from behind her. A black sphere surrounded by purple mist rose above her head. It had no arms, no legs, just a set of menacing eyes and a fanged smile, grinning hungrily as it loomed over the priestess. I reached into my jeans pocket and drew my Pokedex. It was a Gastly – a ghost Pokémon. I never heard of such a type, but I had no time to panic. I called Squirtle into battle.

The Gastly drifted in front of the priestess, accepting its challenge. I ordered Squirtle to use tackle, then immediately felt foolish when my Squirtle toppled through the purple gas and fell face-first to the wooden floor. I should have expected that while battling a ghost. The Gastly cackled, its laugh echoing as it used its confuse ray attack. Squirtle sat up and held his head, hitting himself in confusion.

"Come on, Squirtle, you can do it!" I shouted. "Use your water gun!"

I had confidence that Squirtle would spring back into action, and sure enough he did, shooting water at the Gastly from his mouth. It was a critical hit – the Gastly fled in fright, floating through the brick wall. The priestess fainted. I rushed to her side.

"Are you okay?" I asked, gently shaking her shoulders.

She opened her eyes and looked up at me. "What happened?" she gasped.

"I…I don't know," I admitted. "You were crouched in the corner when I found you, and you…" I broke off. Her blue eyes were already filled to the brim with fright – I figured she might faint again if I told her she was craving my blood. "There was a Gastly."

"Oh my goodness," she breathed. "Was I _possessed_?"

"I'm not sure." But I actually was. "Maybe."

My attention shifted to the stairs. The little girl I saw earlier was walking up to the second floor, holding the hands of a man and a woman. Her mother and father. A distant gaze filled their eyes as they were led by their daughter across the floor.

"Come follow me," the little girl kept whispering to them. "Come follow me, but be very quiet or else they'll see you."

"Hey!" I called to her. "Where are you going?"

None of the three even flinched at the sound of my voice. It was as if I hadn't even spoken. I ran after them as they disappeared to the third floor, but by the time I arrived, they were nowhere in sight. I would have kept following, but another priestess jumped out at me, her eyes rolled back in her white face, her black hair a ratty mess as she clung to my shoulders.

"_BLOOD_!" She shrieked between her unintelligible screams. "Give me your blood!"

"Get off me!" I cried.

Another Gastly rose from behind the priestess, ready to battle. "Squirtle, use bubble beam!" I commanded as I tried to wrench free from the priestess's unusually firm grip. Another priestess sprang from behind, clinging to me like a backpack just after I finally broke free from my first attacker. I could feel her icy breath on my neck, her nails digging into my shoulders. I looked to Squirtle for help, but he was too busy fighting off the Gastly. I reached into my pocket and tossed a Pokeball into the air. "Go, Raichu!"

A beam of light shot from the Pokeball, and a plump orange rodent emerged from the beam. Raichu looked over my head, as if there was something there, and shot electricity from his yellow cheeks. The priestess fell off my back, reaching for my ankles as I jumped away to my Raichu. I gasped when I saw the dark purple gaseous head that floated above her, its clawed purple hands detached from its body. It opened its jack-o-lantern mouth wide as it roared with laughter, beckoning for Raichu to come closer. Raichu charged in its direction, only to be grabbed by the disembodied hands. The Haunter drifted down and licked Raichu in the face with its long red tongue. When it let go, Raichu was trembling violently, unable to move, causing the Haunter to laugh as if it was watching a hilarious comedy show. It picked up the priestess, lifting her to her feet. She stumbled toward me like a zombie, moaning, "I need your _blood_…your _flesh_…Give me your _body_…I'm so weak…"

I could see more Gastly in the distance. I called Raichu back into his Pokeball and I could see that Squirtle was losing strength. We had to make a run for it. Squirtle leapt to my side and we made a mad dash down the stairs, not looking back to see how many ghost Pokémon or possessed priestesses were charging after us. We were just about to run out the front doors when we got to the first floor and I saw –

"Serena!" I cried.

Serena's eyes widened when she saw me rush to her side. I held my knees as I panted for breath. "Christopher?" she gasped. "What are you doing here?"

I reached up and grabbed her arm. "You've got to get out of here! There are ghosts everywhere and the other priestesses are possessed!"

"What?" Serena yanked her arm away from my grasp. "Don't be ridiculous!"

I looked up to see frustration washed over her face. I stood up straight. "I'm not kidding. Why would I lie about something like this?"

"You shouldn't be snooping around here," she said sternly. "The sun is starting to set. Why don't I walk you back to the Pokémon Center where you can stay the night?"

I couldn't argue with that. Walking with a cute girl and keeping her away from malicious spirits beat getting attacked and possibly killed. Unfortunately, Serena didn't seem nearly as enthusiastic as I was feeling. She didn't even look at me. She just looked straight ahead, her eyes narrowed in frustration.

"When I was in the Pokémon Tower, I saw the little girl that spoke to me earlier," I said, breaking the silence. "She was walking with her parents."

"Stay away from the Pokémon Tower," Serena said, a tinge of anger in her tone.

I rolled my eyes. "But what about the murders? What if something happens to them? It's always parents and a child. What if they – "

"Stay away from the Pokémon Tower," she repeated, this time monotonously. Her gaze suddenly became distant.

I studied her carefully. Something wasn't right. I stopped in front of the Pokémon Center and surveyed her white face. Was she always that pale? "Do you want to grab something to eat?" I asked her.

"I'd love some blood and brains," she replied.

I raised my eyebrows.

Serena burst into maniacal laughter, her eyes rolling back in her head. My jaw dropped and I backed away towards the white wall of the Pokémon Center. Then she looked at me with her purple eyes and giggled a girly laugh, shrugging as if nothing happened. "Well, I've got to get back to the tower. Have a good night!"

I stared after her in shock, not knowing what to make of the evening's events. Purple gas clouded around her as she made her way back to the Pokémon Tower. Something definitely wasn't right.

And that something kept me up at night. I knew there was something wrong with Serena and the other priestesses, and I knew that something was wrong with that little girl. I gathered up my Pokeballs, got dressed, and snuck out of the Pokémon Center with Squirtle. We were headed towards the Pokémon Tower when we saw a small figure darting across the street. It appeared to be a Pokémon – and if it was, it'd be quite unusual for a wild Pokémon to be roaming around a neighborhood, especially one without trainers. Squirtle and I followed it, and we were led to a small, grassy park at the center of town. In the center of the park was a campfire, which several silhouettes sat around. Squirtle and I watched from behind a tree. The Pokémon was a little brown creature that walked upright, its face masked by a skull helmet. I read my Pokedex and learned that it was a Cubone. It walked to the center of the circle of silhouettes, raising the bone it carried in its arm high in the air. The silhouettes were of children – at least ten of them, all sitting with their legs crossed and their arms in their laps. Like the Cubone, all the children wore skulls over their heads. Judging by the mousy pigtails and grey dress, I could've sworn one of the children was the little girl I kept on running into. Standing in the center of the circle beside the Cubone was a little boy dressed in grey shorts and a grey t-shirt. His parents stood beside him with vacant expressions, each holding one of his hands.

"Come follow me," the little boy said, his voice loud but empty. The Cubone lead the way, followed by the boy and his parents, and the rest of the children followed single file. As the skull-helmeted children walked passed me, I noticed crimson bloodstains soaked into their grey clothing. They were all headed towards the Pokémon Tower. I was about to follow, but a wrinkled hand grabbed my shoulder.

"Don't you dare follow them, young man!" scolded a hushed voice. "Unless you want to get yourself killed! Or worse, _possessed_!"

I turned around to see a balding, elderly man dressed in a grey kimono, leaning onto his wooden walking stick and glaring at me in disapproval from behind his glasses.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"The only sane person in this town," he replied. Then he looked around anxiously. "It's not safe to talk out here. Come to my house and I'll explain everything."

I really didn't have much choice. It was either I hung around outside where bloody children wearing skulls could catch me – or possibly more ghost Pokémon or something even scarier – or I follow the strange old man to his house where he hopefully won't kill me and hide my mangled corpse. So I followed the man to his house, which was only about a block away. It was a small little cottage that smelled of incense, only a few rooms inside, but I suppose it was alright for an old man who lived alone. However, he wasn't really alone – there was a Poliwhirl, a Clefairy, a Charmander, and a Zubat, all hanging out in the kitchen, and judging by the sounds I could hear from the other rooms, I assumed there were more Pokémon in the house. Squirtle and I took our seats at the little wooden table as the old man made us tea.

"You're a Pokémon trainer?" I asked.

"Not necessarily," he replied, "at least, not anymore. I was when I was your age."

"Are these all your Pokémon?"

"They weren't all originally mine." He set the teapot in the center of the table and handed me a teacup. "My name is Mr. Fuji. I rescue abandoned Pokémon and take care of them here. After the Team Rocket Pokémon murders, Pokémon trainers were viewed as Pokémon abusers by the people of Lavender Town."

"I heard about the situation with Team Rocket," I said solemnly. "But Pokémon trainers aren't abusing their Pokémon. Team Rocket is just a gang of criminals. I, and all the other trainers I've met, am best friends with my Pokémon."

"And that's the way it should be," My. Fuji said with a nod, "but the people of Lavender Town never understood that. They are very hostile and unwelcoming towards Pokémon trainers."

"I've noticed," I chuckled darkly. "One of the kids that was at the park – I saw her earlier today. Once outside the Pokémon Tower, then again with her parents."

"You went inside the Pokémon Tower?"

"I did, and all the priestesses were being possessed by ghost Pokémon. I…" I clutched the warm tea cup. "I'm afraid one of my friends has been possessed, too. Why is all this happening?"

"It's because of the Cubone," Mr. Fuji answered simply, crossing his boney arms across his chest. "She is the only survivor of the Team Rocket genocide."

"You mean that Pokémon I saw at the park is the baby that the Marowak was trying to save?"

"Yes, and she is very angry at the humans for killing her mother. That's why she is rounding up all the children in town to bring their parents to the Marowak spirit as a sacrifice to all the Pokémon that died."

"Those ghost Pokémon in the tower possessing the priestesses – they're the ghosts of the dead Pokémon." It was all making sense.

"That is correct. They crave the lives that they were violently stolen and will do anything to be alive again, even if it means taking over the bodies of the innocent priestesses. They're in cohorts with the Cubone, helping it get the revenge they all feel they deserve."

"But if the Gastly and Haunter are the ghosts of the Pokémon, then why is the Marowak not one of them?"

"It's because she still has unfinished business on earth. She doesn't feel ready to move on and become a new Pokémon. Ghost Pokémon are very mysterious. No one knows for sure if they retain the memories they had before they died, but it seems the ones at the Pokémon Tower have or they were convinced by Cubone to help."

My heart was racing. I never imagined the murders would have such a twisted back story. I doubt anyone in town did.

"How many parents do they have to kill before they're satisfied?" I asked.

"I couldn't tell you myself."

"But the humans didn't do anything wrong!" I shouted hotly, banging my fist on the table. "They're just parents!"

"The Pokémon ghosts see all of us humans as violent."

"But it was _Team Rocket_ – "

Mr. Fuji raised a hand to silence me. "I know. But the Pokémon do not understand, just as the townspeople do not understand that trainers are not criminals. We live in a world of blindness, and when two blind men fight, neither one of them sees the chaos they've created."

I had nothing to say. There was nothing to say. So I just sat in silence, Mr. Fuji's words replaying in my brain like a broken record. But the silence was soon broken by a series of abrupt knocks on the front door. Mr. Fuji opened it, revealing two little girls wearing skulls over their faces, two Haunters looming above their heads, beckoning to Mr. Fuji with their purple claws and sadistic smiles. They held out their hands to Mr. Fuji and whispered, "Come follow us."

Mr. Fuji looked to me, sadness filling his old, tired eyes. "It appears that I have said too much. Take care of yourself, young man." He took the hands of the little girls.

"Wait!" I cried, rising from my chair. "We can fight them! C'mon, Squirtle!"

"Don't," Mr. Fuji said, gesturing to the Haunters. "They are too strong."

I bit my lip. I couldn't just stand there and let the little girls take Mr. Fuji away to God knows where to do God knows what. "What are you going to do with him?" I asked them.

The girls ignored me. They led Mr. Fuji out of his house, the Haunters following closely behind. A third ghost appeared – one I hadn't seen before. It looked like a dark purple shadow of a living Pokémon, but when it gave me a sinister glare with its red eyes and grinned wickedly at me and Squirtle, I knew it was more than just that. The longer it looked at me, the drowsier I became. I couldn't hold my own weight. I collapsed, falling onto the floor, Squirtle falling asleep in front of me.

I don't remember what happened after that. I just know I had the worst nightmare I ever had in my entire life.

When I woke up, it was daytime. I was still on the floor of Mr. Fuji's house, but he had not returned. It was just me, my sleeping Squirtle, and the abandoned Pokémon. I shook my Squirtle awake and we rushed out the door in search of help. There was a newspaper tossed carelessly in Mr. Fuji's front yard. I picked it up and saw a picture of the little girl I kept on seeing yesterday. She was reported missing, her parents both found dead on the top floor of the Pokémon Tower, her mother's skull missing.

"But she's not missing!" I cried out loud. I noticed the next door neighbor – a scrawny old woman - was out pulling weeds in her front yard. I pointed to the paper and shouted to him, "I saw this little girl last night! She was with a Pokémon called Cubone! The Cubone has all the missing children!"

"What are you talking about, boy?" the old woman barked. "There are no Pokémon in this town! Stop making a joke out of a serious crime and get out of our town!"

I couldn't get out of town. Not until the murders ended, and I knew none of the townspeople had any desire to pursue the cases. It was up to me to stop the madness and rescue Mr. Fuji. Squirtle and I raced to the Pokémon Tower. We had to get there before any more children led their parents to the top floor.

We may have outrun the children, but not the police. The entrance to the Pokémon Tower was roped off by yellow tape and at least a dozen police officers and investigators crowded around it, all scribbling information down on notepads and shouting into walkie talkies. One of the policemen glared at me as I approached. "What are you doing here, boy?" he growled.

"I can help you guys solve the murders," I said. "I know what's going on. A Cubone is taking all the children – "

"Yeah, yeah, run along now!" the officer barked.

"But, sir, please!" I cried. "The children! They took Mr. Fuji!"

"_Mr. Fuji_?" the officer repeated.

"Yes!"

"Serves him right, that old geezer!" he laughed. "He and his Pokémon were nothing but a menace to our town!"

"How dare you say that?" I yelled. "Mr. Fuji is the only one who cares about Pokémon! _You_ are all menaces for abandoning them!"

"Take him away!" ordered the officer, and two other policemen seized my arms and carried me away to the scene, back to the Pokémon Center, threatening to arrest me if I returned to the Pokémon Tower.

Of course I didn't listen. I waited for all the police officers to leave before returning – which wasn't until sunset. I hoped that Serena and Mr. Fuji were alright, but I could feel all that hope slipping as I ran up the stairs of the Pokémon Tower without seeing any ghosts or priestesses. It was too empty, too quiet. I was almost afraid to go up the last flight of stairs to the seventh floor, but I knew I had to, and so I did – as quietly as I possibly could.

Sure enough, the top floor was crowded with priestesses and children. The priestesses stood around the room in a circle, Gastly and Haunter hovering over them like dark clouds. The children with the skull helmets stood in the center of the room, divided into two single file lines, facing a shrine against the back wall. _Come Follow Me _was written in dripping crimson blood behind the shrine. A little blonde girl stood in the center of the room with her parents, a pair of Haunters floating over the parents' heads. Cubone emerged from the crowd and led them closer to the shrine. The Haunters left the parents and they fell to the ground. She straightened out the arms and legs of her parents and whispered, "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep."

Everyone watched on – the ghost Pokémon, the priestesses, the children, and Squirtle and I through fearful eyes - as she drew a butcher's knife from her dress pocket. "If I shall die before I wake…" She shoved the blade into her father's chest. He didn't even flinch. She jabbed him multiple times. "I pray the lord my soul to take." She turned to her mother and began to hack at the woman's skull until she broke off half of it, ripped it out of the head, and placed it on top of her own like a crown, blood dripping down her face and getting caught in her yellow locks. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was almost too unreal to be disgusting. It was like watching a horror movie – shocking, yes, but too farfetched to make me feel any real emotion. Cubone took the little girl's hand in her own as Mr. Fuji emerged from the back of the crowd with the shadow Pokémon that put me to sleep the other night.

"Come follow my parents," she whispered to Mr. Fuji, raising the knife.

"No!" I shouted. I sprang up from the stairs and all eyes were on me. The priestesses hissed and shrieked, reaching for me as they stumbled over to where I stood. The children glared at me, pointing their tiny fingers at me accusingly. The shadow Pokémon left Mr. Fuji's side and flew over to Squirtle, ready to use its hypnosis attack again.

"Squirtle, look away!" I commanded as I reached for my Pokedex. It identified the ghost Pokémon as a Gengar, but couldn't give me any further data. The Gengar shot black beams out of its eyes. Squirtle dodged it the first time, but not the second. "Squirtle, use water gun!"

The Gengar was a formidable opponent and it was even harder for Squirtle and I to focus on the battle as the priestesses lunged for me. Their nails were digging into my skin and I'm pretty sure one bit me. Honestly, if a white figure didn't drift in through the brick wall, I'm quite certain that the priestesses would have ripped me apart and the Gengar would have defeated my Squirtle. But when the white figure drifted over to the shrine, everyone froze. The Cubone gazed at it in awe. I could make out some sort of form similar to the Cubone's. It was the Marowak's spirit. She floated over to Squirtle. She wanted to battle. As tired as he was, Squirtle was ready to fight. But I wasn't. I stood between them.

"Is this really what you want, Marowak?" I asked, hoping I sounded at least twice as confident as I felt. "Why would you want to battle when fighting is what got you killed?"

The Marowak spirit didn't move. I couldn't read its expression, but I continued. "I know you're mad about what happened with Team Rocket, but you have to understand that not all humans want to hurt you. Possessing the children and priestesses to kill people won't bring you back to life. It won't do any good. Taking someone's life is never justified, despite the purposes you may have. It just causes more pain, creating more injustice. An eye for an eye will only make the world blind, if two blind men fight in a world of blindness, they'll never come to see the chaos they've created."

Mr. Fuji nodded. The ghost Pokémon studied me carefully.

"Marowak, I know you want to protect your daughter, but she will not live a happy life if all she does is order children around to kill their own parents," I went on. "You should encourage her to be happy and move on, and you should move on, too. It's hard enough that she has to grow up without a mother – what about all these children who have to face the fact that they killed their own parents?"

Marowak slowly backed away.

"Don't worry about Cubone," I said. "Mr. Fuji will take great care of her. He's been taking care of all the abandoned Pokémon. I'm sure Cubone will be happy in his home and meet lots of new friends. If you really love your daughter, you'll let her live the life that you tried so desperately to save."

Marowak drifted down to Cubone and gave her a hug. Cubone placed her arms around the white, misty body of her mother, tears filling her eyes beneath the skull she wore. The ghost Pokémon bowed their heads as the Marowak spirit drifted towards the ceiling, through the brick wall, then out of site. The ghost Pokémon all disappeared and the priestesses and children fell to the floor. The only ones left standing were me, Squirtle, Mr. Fuji, and Cubone.

"Well done, young man," Mr. Fuji said, his thin lips curling into a smile. "You truly are a noble Pokémon trainer."

"Thanks," I said, shifting awkwardly. "I don't really even know where all that came from. It just felt right."

"Because it was."

I looked to Squirtle and Cubone. Cubone sat sniveling on the ground while Squirtle comforted her. "What will happen to her mother?"

"She will return to the Pokémon Tower as a Gastly," Mr. Fuji replied simply.

"But all the other ghosts disappeared."

"They're still here. We just can't see them because they don't want to be seen. I'd assume they must feel quite ashamed of their actions."

One of the priestesses began to stir. "Serena!" I cried, rushing to her side.

She slowly sat up. "What happened?" she breathed, holding her head. "When did I get here?"

"It's going to be ok," I assured her. "All the murders will stop now and the spirits will rest in peace."

She stared up at me in confusion.

I stood up and walked back over to Mr. Fuji. "What will happen to all the children?"

"I'm not sure," Mr. Fuji admitted. "They will have to be put into foster care for now. Whether or not the police decide to acknowledge the paranormal factors in this case is not something I know. All I can say is thank you for saving me and this town." He reached into his kimono and drew a yellow flute with a Pokeball design on the end of it. "Please accept this gift. It's a PokeFlute. It will instantly awaken any sleeping Pokémon."

"Thank you," I said, holding it in my hands like a slab of gold, a trophy for my good deeds. "Are you sure you want me to have it?"

Mr. Fuji smiled. "You will find more use for it than I will." Then his expression hardened. "Now, you must leave this town at once. Once the sun rises, the police will return and find the fresh corpses and all the children. The last thing you will want is trouble with the cops."

"Right," I said, nodding in agreement. "Thanks for everything. I couldn't have done this without you. Take care of Cubone and make sure the priestesses and children are all okay."

"I will," said Mr. Fuji, and he bid me farewell.

"Wait! Don't go!" Serena cried, reaching for me, but she was still groggy from her possession.

I didn't look back. "I'm sorry, but I must go. I'm on a mission to become the world's greatest Pokémon master."

I didn't even look back at the Pokémon Tower as I left. Not even once. Squirtle and I walked side by side into the sunrise. We weren't sure what sort of adventures awaited us once we left Lavender Town, but we were ready to take on any challenge. If we could defeat the dead, then we could easily take on the living. We believed we were invincible, and we most definitely were.


End file.
